Oculus

General

The Oculus are among the more eye-catching and unsettling creatures within Alézun'Teran. Although it is debatable whether or not the Oculus are separate creatures in their own right or if they are part of a greater entity. Very little is known of these creatures, and they are an unsettling enigma even to the Dhavians and Faceless Constants.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Entities of Corruption

There is some speculation that they are Sorrowful Creatures, as their first documented appearance occurred after the Great Sorrow. They also seem to have a preference for Corrupted areas and shun the powers of the Maiden Armor.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Appearance

As the name suggests, Oculus takes on the appearance of gigantic human eyeballs, although there may be some differences between each specimen. Some appear to have an optic nerve attached to them, and it is suspected that this may be related to their age; those who have one are older than those that do not. Some outliers put this theory in doubt, however.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Growth Stages

Oculus have irregular growth spurts and are believed to have at least three stages of life.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Young Stage: Clutched.

They first grow in clutches of a few dozen and are not bigger than a fist. One may usually find them attached to cornered walls or angled surfaces where two edges or sides meet, and which are bathed in shadow. This stage is known as simply the Clutch Stage. Oculus taking root has never been observed and it is suspected that it is affected by the Blind Spot Effect.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Mature Stage: Webbed.

Only a single one of these Oculus will mature, and receive a sudden growth spurt; with the sound of shattered glass and blinding light as from a lightning strike, the Oculus will levitate and shoot off dozens of weblike appendages that attach itself to its cornered surface. There it will be, until its second and believed final growth spurt.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Old Stage: Stalked.

The time it takes for an Oculus to reach its final stage is undetermined. Some seem to take centuries if not millennia, while others may reach it within a few scant years. The tallest of the Oculus has grown to the size of several hundred meters, while the shorter ones may only be about seventy meters tall.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

It happens without prior warning; with a glass-shattering shriek, accompanied by a burning heatwave and blinding light, the Oculus will free itself from its webbing and levitate up in the air as optic nerve stalks sprout out from it and either burrows down into the ground bellow or attaches themselves to any stone surfaces they come into contact with.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Behaviour

Oculus have been "somewhat" compared to aquatic sponges when it comes to their behavior. Only the Stalked Ones appear to occasionally move faintly from side to side in an ethereal wind; they are otherwise unaffected by stormwinds.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Moving irises

The most notable form of movement Oculus have, is when they change the direction of their irises, to seemingly stare at something. What exactly they perceive is not known and it is incredibly rare something in their vicinity catches their gaze; Maiden Armor seems to be one of the few things that Oculus actively stare at.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Iris focusing

Similarly, their irises may occasionally grow or shrink like ordinary eyes affected by light and dark. This has no correlation with the amount of light in the environment around them; only the Purification Light of the Maiden Armor has a notable effect on their iris size, which will shrink to a mere pinprick.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Capabilities

Despite their unnerving appearance and behavior, Oculous are benign creatures. They are incapable of turning people into stone or anything of a similar sort. They will simply stare unblinking out into nothingness.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Unnerving aura & Indestructablility

The only truly notable ability of theirs is their unnerving aura that can make even a Dhavian to shudder for a few moments. That and their apparent indestructibility, with their only weakness being the Purification Light of a Maiden.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.

Reproduction

When an old Oculus dies — which is a notable event in of itself — its eyeball implodes with the sound of crushing eggshells and releases a cloud that is something akin to bloodred pollen. The pollen itself is the size of mosquitos and will seem to fluctuate in and out of reality for several minutes before becoming invisible to the naked eye. Some time afterward, one may find a Clutch growing somewhere; either near where the old Oculus died or somewhere in a whole different realm.  

— Entities in Alézun'Teran.